by Leia Stone
Kyle powered up his phone, a special one from Sam. Then he frowned. “Nothing yet.”
I sighed. “Alright, I know a place close to the Hive where we can camp out until we get word…”
Kyle nodded and we made our way into our rental car.
An hour later Kyle and I were sitting along the Willamette River. It was about 3 P.M. The Hive would be coming alive shortly, the vampires soon to be waking up to start their day. If Ryder was going to make a move, it would be in the next two or three hours. My leg bounced nervously on the grass as Kyle finished off his hot dog. I was trying not to think of Tessa. My sweet Tessa locked away in the pit enduring God knows what. Just before I was about to lose my mind, the phone in my hand buzzed. I unlocked it and read the text from Sam.
GPS shows Ryder at a house near you on Maple Grove. The address was at the bottom with a map.
“We got him,” I told Kyle, jumping up as nerves and excitement thrummed through me. Ignoring the fact that Sam knew that the house was near me – I was tempted to look in the sky for cameras or drones – I clicked the map to open it. Ryder was only half a mile from where we were.
“We should drive,” Kyle said, glancing over my shoulder at the map. Good point, we might need our car. I literally had no idea what we were about to get into.
It took us only a few minutes and then we were parking in front of a small Craftsman style house on Maple Grove Street. Before I could say anything to him, Kyle jumped out of the car and began stalking up the front steps. Oh shit. I’d been assuming we would go in through the back and unobtrusively see what was going on. Or maybe have Sam tell Ryder we were here.
Nope. Apparently we were going in brazen as hell.
Kyle didn’t look back once as I scurried after him, and I realized then how much he was hurting too. Ryder was his best friend and those enforcers had been his men too. All of the boys were suffering, and each of them had been doing it silently and alone. This was one area we’d fallen apart as a team. The moment we saw that video surveillance of the slaughter, we should have dealt with it. Together.
Anger was bubbling inside of me again. Ryder shouldn’t have done this without us. He’d majorly fucked up and I was putting him on my naughty list this Christmas.
But first I needed to see he was okay.
Kyle banged on the door hard. “Ryder!” he shouted.
Since he was more than a little occupied in his pissed-off-ness, I kept an eye on our surroundings. There were no humans around; the neighborhood was almost too quiet for this time in the afternoon.
Unease filtered through me, and I took a step close to Kyle. This could be a trap; we didn’t know Ryder was here, just that his phone was. There were footsteps and then the door opened.
It was Ryder, standing there wide-eyed in black fatigues, looking hot as fuck and pissed as hell.
He was pissed? Oh no, buddy, not happening. I stepped right up into his personal space.
“That’s right. Operation Tie Charlie Up in the Basement With the Vampires failed!” Moving even closer, he backed into the doorway and I poked him in the chest. “We’re a team, dude! You don’t leave me behind EVER again or the only ass you’ll be sleeping next to will be Kyle’s.”
His lips quirked the tiniest bit. “You cut your hair,” he said softly.
Oh … yeah. I had forgotten about that.
Looking behind Ryder, I noticed we had an audience. A mishmash of a dozen Sanctum and a few of what looked like a human SWAT team. I recognized Lincoln immediately. Old Blue Eyes was in his element, surrounded by a wall filled with pin-ups of dozens of maps and pictures.
“Welcome to my home, come right in,” Lincoln said with heavy sarcasm. We stepped into the house and closed the door.
Ryder met Kyle’s eyes and it was a total staredown. Finally, Kyle spoke under his breath: “I understand leaving Charlie, but why me?”
Ryder looked vulnerable, his eyes shuttering as he fought for composure. “No one else gets hurt.”
Kyle chuckled. “Aren’t you a fucking hero.”
Ryder clenched his jaw. “I didn’t—”
Lincoln groaned, cutting Ryder off. “We don’t have time for this! Either get in on the op or get out of my house.”
Kyle brushed past Ryder and took his place with the rest of the men. Ouch. I was beginning to feel bad for Ryder now. Maybe we were being a bit hard on him; it was clear he only wanted to make sure none of us got hurt. But dammit I didn’t want him hurt either. He’d put me through hell over the past twenty-four hours, and all because he thought he was the hero and could do this all alone.
Before I could decide what to do, Ryder’s hand slipped in mine and he pulled me over to join the group. After scanning the faces of the newcomers, my eyes stopped on a tall redhead chick with huge amber eyes. She was completely sleeved with tats, gave off a don’t mess with me vibe, and if I was being honest she was hot AF. She was a human, so she must have been with Lincoln’s crew. Kyle had noticed her too and his eyes were definitely lingering on her.
Lincoln cleared his throat and we all looked up. “Ryder gave us intel late last night. I’ve been in briefings ever since and have had about zero hours of sleep, so don’t fuck with me.” A few of the Sanctum douches shifted in their seat, but strangely enough no one questioned Lincoln taking the lead. The SWAT leader continued: “Our orders are to help Ryder release one human girl, a Tessa Grace McNair from a place known as the pit, where she is being held in captivity.” He held up a photo of her from about two years ago, which I was pretty sure I took. How the hell did Ryder get his hands on that?
And … did Lincoln just say Tessa was human? I shifted on the spot, and Ryder squeezed my hand. Meeting his eyes, he gave the smallest shake of his head.
Holy hot damn. He’d lied. He lied to save my best friend and get him in the door so he could kill Fugly. It was brilliant and stupid all at the same time.
Lincoln was still in the midst of his update. The looks on the SWAT team’s faces were menacing. “It’s a direct federal violation to keep a human feeder against their will.” Then Blue Eyes gestured to the Sanctum and Ryder: “These ash enforcers have agreed to go in on the job with us, since they know the inner terrain better than anyone.”
My eyes cut across to Ryder again. My my, he’d been a busy guy, lying all over the place. Lincoln was going to kill him when he found out. I also found it quite offensive to have the Sanctum linked with my enforcers. They were nothing like the enforcers and never would be. But for now I’d play along.
Lincoln walked over to some high-powered rifles. “We’ve got some AT20, but that doesn’t last long in a full-fledged vampire. If they’re hostile, our orders are shoot to kill.”
Ryder cleared his throat. “And by shoot to kill he means cut their heads off, burn them alive, or completely pulverize them.”
I grimaced. Jesus. In the back of my mind I knew Ryder was doing this now because once Becca got the cure in everyone, they’d all return to cuddly oxytocin teddy bears and it would be hard to hate them. Ryder wanted Fugly to have his reckoning and I agreed. Even with oxytocin, something told me Fugly would always be evil.
Kyle remained stony-faced, even as the others in the room got to their feet and started to gear up. Kyle and I hadn’t come with much. I was already wearing my black fatigues, so I wasted no more time in strapping on a few knives and finding myself a rifle.
“If I asked you to stay behind, would you?” Ryder’s voice was soft and made my heart clench. He’d done absolutely everything he could to keep me out of this and we’d showed up anyway. But he couldn’t bubble wrap me, that wasn’t the girl he fell in love with. If I had to accept Ryder as he was, then I deserved the same. Plus, I would never leave my best friend in there.
I shook my head. “No.”
Ryder made me look into his eyes. “What if I begged?” His hands went through my freshly chopped locks.
I tried my best to harden my resolve. He was doin
g that thing where he completely disarmed me. “Becca has the cure now, so if I die it won’t matter.”
Ryder’s mouth thinned; his eyes went blazingly silver. He opened his mouth, but I interrupted before he could speak. “Hurts doesn’t it? When someone you love has no regard for their own life.”
He looked down at his boots and nodded. “Shit. I’m sorry, Charlie. Okay!”
I sighed, and then nodded. That would have to be enough, because the boys were suiting up big-time. Ryder realized it too. He switched straight into hardcore enforcer mode.
“Have you used one of these before?” he asked me, gesturing to the rifle.
I hadn’t seen Ryder grab any weapons earlier, but I wasn’t worried. Half the time he went to bed more armed than a drug lord fearing for his life. Just because I couldn’t see them didn’t mean they weren’t there.
Gripping the heavy weapon, I shook my head. This model was not one I was familiar with, but it looked semi-automatic and hugely powerful.
Ryder then spent the next few minutes running me through the mechanics of the gun and how to reload it. I had refills of the sleek canister darts filled with the AT20, and some extra rounds of bullets. My handgun was bullets only.
The rifle was definitely heavier than I was used to. Ryder made sure I was able to sight my target properly, and how to adjust for the pull. I forced myself to pay attention because this gun was my chance to make it out of the Hive alive. Everyone in the vampire world was after me, and I was just going to bust right in and say “Here I am.” But it was Tessa. And it was Ryder. I would do anything for those two. They already had the cure, so I was less important in the grand scheme of this plan.
Once everyone was ready to roll, Lincoln led the large group through the house and out into the back yard. We crossed the yard to stand before a dilapidated old shed. Luckily for me I was an ashpire, because the place looked like a tetanus epidemic waiting to happen.
The SWAT leader reached to the side of the door and flicked a cover off a panel of numbers. Quick as a flash – I was standing right behind him and couldn’t follow along – he keyed in a bunch of digits. The door slid across with a whoosh. As we followed him inside, lights flickered on across a large warehouse space. Okay, seriously? This was like James Bond shit or something. The old tetanus shed was actually a state of the art hanger filled with cars, quads and a bunch of other military style machinery. No wonder the house was so tiny; this shed must have taken up the rest of the house block, plus the one behind. What a nicely hidden gem in the middle of suburbia. It must be linked to the industrial building I’d spotted next door.
We made our way right to the back, where a long line of SUV’s waited. Each looked a little different, definitely reinforced, and I had no idea of their various makes, but they were all black. Black seemed to be the color of choice in this business.
“With this sort of mission, we hit them hard and fast so they have no time to regroup or prepare,” Lincoln said. “Fill the cars. We’ll take as few as we can.”
There had to be forty soldiers in this room. Testosterone was high, especially since there were only two chicks, me and hottie tat girl. Although, she was not letting our sex down at all. With a rifle over her shoulder, and handguns on both thighs, not to mention the mini sword strapped to her right forearm, she was female badass goals.
I ended up in one of the middle cars, squished between Ryder and Kyle. I could tell the boys were going to stick close to me as much as they could. We all had our mission, sure, but we three were a team. Protect our own. Even if Kyle and Ryder were on the outs, they were always brothers. In the end, only six cars were needed to get everyone out of the garage and on the way to the Hive.
The ride was silent. Lincoln wasn’t in our car, and none of the Sanctum were ones I knew – aka the assholes who had tranqued and kidnapped me. I shifted a little. Ryder’s gun was jammed into my side, and unfortunately that wasn’t a sexy euphemism.
Familiar landmarks flashed past me, and the tension within the SUV increased as we crossed the invisible boundaries of the town, which signaled we were heading for vamp territory. Shit. I really never thought I’d come back here, especially not before the cure was working its way through the Hive. As the large gated compound came into view, I straightened, and breathing deeply, prepared myself for the next few moments.
“Stay close to me, Charlie,” Ryder murmured in my ear, his lips brushing against my skin. Tingles rocked through me and I swallowed hard, hoping this wasn’t the last moment we had together.
“I love you,” I said, my voice barely audible. “Even if you are on my shit list and sleeping in the doghouse for the next six months.”
Ryder’s grin was brief, but the sight was beautiful. “Love you too.”
Our lips briefly touched. The front SUV smashed into the gates and with a huge crash we were through. Ryder had already spun to his window, which was now down. Every window was down in our car and I knew our assault was to start immediately.
Ash sprinted in all directions; it was too early for vamps to be on guard duty yet. There were so many, at least twenty. The numbers assigned around the perimeter had been seriously upped in our absence. Someone in the second car hung out the window and took out a few of those running toward us. The ash were getting tranqs, not bullets. They were going to be given a chance to survive, per Ryder’s orders. Any vamps we passed definitely wouldn’t get that same choice.
Ryder had his gun up now and was firing steadily. At least four or five went down in moments.
“They’re warned now, and will be locking down the upper level vampires,” Ryder said, yanking himself and his gun back in. “We have to take out the soldiers first to reach those who make the most impact. Do not hesitate. They’re going to come at us hard.”
Hard was actually an understatement. By the time the Sanctum guy driving our vehicle screeched to a halt beside the others, ash were pouring out of the front of the Hive. Inside, the vamps were hopefully still in their beds. The element of surprise was our best hope to get in and out cleanly.
Sirens blared to life then, and with that whooping sound we lost our element of surprise.
The ash before us weren’t enforcers and weren’t properly trained. The stupid vampires had taken out their best line of defense. But I did recognize Jose with a gun in his shaking hand. When his eyes met mine he lowered his weapon in confusion.
“Stop!” he screamed, holding up a fist.
Ryder jumped out of the SUV, with me hot on his heels.
“Ryder?” His name was being murmured around. A few ash had recognized us, and hope sprang in my chest as I saw them lowering their weapons, relief crashing over their faces.
“If you surrender, none of you will be hurt!” Ryder projected his words loud enough for all of them to hear. I could sense the bodies stepping into formation behind us as we prepared to charge the front door.
One of the ash close to us didn’t seem too sure; he still held his weapon. “You left us to die. Why are you back?”
Ryder swallowed hard and I knew that tore him open. “Revenge.”
I was hoping Blue Eyes wasn’t in earshot, because getting Tessa out of here was supposed to be our cover.
“Is it true about the cure?” Jose – who was very close to me now – asked softly. Our eyes locked.
I nodded. “By next week, vampires won’t exist.”
Jose must have seen the intel on the network, because he accepted my assertion with no more explanation needed. He nodded and turned to the rest of the ash.
“Let them through!” he yelled, and just like that the ash parted and allowed us to walk through the front doors of the Hive.
Our easy run was short-lived, though, because the second we entered the foyer and headed into the dark stairwell, all hell broke loose. Vampires were raining down on us like a goddamn dog pile. They weren’t retreating to their safe upper floors, they were fighting. They didn’t trust the ash to guard the
m anymore, which was smart, but sucked for us.
“Ooofff.” The wind got knocked out of me as a vampire dropped from above, landing half on me and slamming me to the ground so fast my chin cracked on the pavement.
Shots were fired, and in the close quarters it made my ears ring. Suddenly the weight on me lifted and a strong but feminine tatted-up arm was pulling me up. #lifegoals again. Chick was badass to the core.
“Thanks,” I said, pulling my blade from the thigh sheath I wore.
She nodded, sticking close to me as she too pulled her blade. Together we cut our way through the mess of bodies to get to the door that led to the floor which had the elevator down to the pit. I was going for Tessa. She was my sole focus.
“Hit the deck!” Lincoln yelled, and without question I hit the ground as a small but powerful blast rocked the floor above us, slowing the onslaught of vampires.
When we were able to gain our feet again we tried the closest door. It was locked. Of course. Dammit, where was Sam when you needed him? Tattooed chick busted out some device and stuck it in the lock. She tinkered with it and I heard a beep and an airlock sigh. Well, how about that. Looks like we had our female version of Sam. Rocking the silent thing too. Looking over my shoulder I saw Ryder on the front lines fighting back to back with Kyle.
Go or stay? Go or stay? Ryder or Tessa? As if reading my mind, Ryder looked up for a fraction of a second and yelled. “Go! We’ll hold them off you.”
That’s all I needed. I was barreling down the hallway with this chick and a few Sanctum and SWAT on my ass. I’m coming, Tessa. There was only one way in and out of the pit, and luckily it was on a separate grid to the rest of the Hive power. So they couldn’t easily shut the elevator down. Here’s hoping they hadn’t figured out a way.
Using the hand signals Ryder taught me, I communicated with the others behind me about the potential for trouble as we passed the regular elevator and continued on to the gold-colored door. There seemed to be no vamps on this level. Either they hadn’t expected us to try and gain access to the pit … or it was a trap. Probably the second one knowing Fugly. He’d be expecting me to come for Tessa.